Apparatus for playing a game simulating newspaper reporting and publishing

ABSTRACT

A GAME IS DISCLOSED WHICH SIMULATES THE COMPETITION AND FORTUITY ENCOUNTERED IN THE DAY-TO-DAY GATHERING AND DISSEMINATION OF NEWS BY NEWSPAPER ORGANIZATIONS. A PRIMARY BOARD INCLUDES A PLURALITY OF NEWSPAPER OFFICES AND A PLURALITY OF &#34;BEATS&#34; SET FORTH ON A GRID AS WELL AS A &#34;TIMER&#34; COMPRISING A PAD WITH A SPECIFIC TIME PRINTED ON EACH PAGE SUCH THAT INCREMENTS OF GAME TIME PASS AS EACH PAGE IS TURNED. AN AUXILIARY BOIARD IS UTILIZED TO KEEP TRACK OF THE STORIES GATHERED BY TWO OR FOUR PLAYERS. A SPECIALLY MARKED DIE, A DECK OF STORY CARDS, A DECK OF SCOOP CARDS, AND A NUMBER OF INDICATOR PIECES AND DISCS ARE UTILIZED IN PLAYING THE GAME ACCORDING TO PRESCRIBED RULES.

2, 1971 G. T. MATTHEWS 3,567,225 l APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A' GAME SIMULATING NEWSPAPER REPORTING AND PUBLISHING Filed Dec. l5, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

GILBERT T. MATTHEWS ATTORNEYS March 2, -1971 G. T. MATTHEWS 4 3,567,226

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A GAME SIMULATING NEWSPAPER REPORTING AND PUBLISHING Flled Dec. 1 3, 1968 L 5 Sheets-Sheet 1l STORY-CARO BOARD FOR 4 PLAYERS lst 2nd 3rd 41h 51h 6th 71h STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY Y STORY STORY *TT A A A A A A A /5f` B B B B B B B laf :Pa- 5- E E STORY-CARO BOARD FOR 2 PLAYERS L1#` m 2nd 3rd 41h 51h em 71h STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY w 81h 9th IOh l lh |21h IBh l4h STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY STORY L INVENTOR A :Fil-E- E5 GILBERT T. MATTHEWS ATTORNEYS March 2,- 1971 G. T. MATTHEWS 3,567,226

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A GAME SIMULATING NEWSPAPER I REPORTING AND PUBLISHING Filed Dec. 1s, 1968 5 sheets-sheet s COURT BEAT IVI CONTACT GIVES You `IURY CoNvIcTs Two MEN MAJOR SCOOP oF FIRST DEGREE BURGLARY IN 550,000 TI-IEFT.

VALUE: I2 COL. INCHES RAT|NG= FAIR STORY VALUE A FIRST ,-v-A -e coLuMN INCHES E SECOND--s COLUMN INCHES IP-it'- 3&1

E215- E I INVENTOR GILBERT T. MATTHEWS ATTORNEYS Marl 2, 1971 G. T. MATTHEWS 3,567,225

APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A GAME SIMULATING NEWSPAPER REPORTING AND PUBLISHING Filed DBC. `13, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet, 4

SCOREPAD FOR TWO PLAYERS DAILY NEWS DAILY TIMES E ISI ,y 2nd PASS VALUE IN ISI 2nd PASS VALUE IN f w) .III IJ) COL INCHES II/I Iv) w) COL. INCHES TOTAL COL` INCHES TOTAL COL. INCHES REGULAR STORIES REGULAR STORIES TOTAL COL. INCHES TOTAL COL. INCHES SCOOPS SCOOPS 5 COL. INCH BONUS 5 COL. INCH BONUS IIF APPLICABLE) IIF APPLICABLE) GRAND TOTAL GRAND TOTAL EEE-.4-55

INVENTOR.

GILBERT T. MATTHEWS ATTORNEYS March 2, 1971 G, T, MATTHEWS 3,567,226 APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A GAME SIMULATING NEWSPAPER Q REPORTINGAND PUBLISHING Flled Dec. 13, 1968 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ITI-LE.- E EI SCCREPAD FOR FOUR PLAYERS DAILYNEwS DAILY TIMES I9 ISI 2nd PASS VALUE IN ISI and PASS VALUE IN ,w II/I II/I (JI COLINCI-IES- II/I II/Iv Iv) COLINCHES A I S 4 A EI I A 5 B4 e A a TOTAL COL, INCHES TOTAL COL. INCHES I REGULAR STORIES REGULAR STORIES TOTAL COL. INCHES TOTAL COL. INCHES sCOOPs SCOOPS 5 COL, INCH BONUS 5 COL. INCH BONUS IIE APPLICABLE) IIFAPPLICAELEI GRAND TOTAL GRAND TOTAL INVENTOR. GILBERT T. MATTHEWS ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,567,226 APPARATUS FOR PLAYING A GAME SIMULAT- ING NEWSPAPER REPORTING. AND PUBLISHING Gilbert T. Matthews, 2943-B N. Flanwill Blvd., Tucson, Ariz. 85716 Filed Dec. 13, 1968, Ser. No. 783,492 Int. Cl. A63f 3 02 U.S. Cl. 273-134 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A game is disclosed which simulates the competition and fortuity encountered in the day-to-day gathering and dissemination of news by newspaper organizations. A primary board includes a plurality of newspaper oices and a plurality of beats set forth on a grid as well as a timer comprising a pad with a speciiic time printed on each page such that increments of game time pass as each page is turned. An auxiliary board is utilized to keep track of the stories gathered by two or four players. A specially marked die, a deck of story cards, a deck of scoop cards, and a number of indicator pieces and discs are utilized in playing the game according to prescribed rules.

This invention contemplates a game and, more particularly, a game in lwhich the competition and luck experienced in reporting for and publishing a major newspaper are simulated.

The well-known, even notorious, competition of newspaper reporters in pursuit of a prominent story coupled with the necessity for publishing a paper according to a set deadline is the basis for an exciting, often frustrating, existence for the real-life participants.

The present game renders each player a reporter, a managing editor, and a city editor, all in one. Throughout the game, the players are faced with the instant decisions al1 reporters must make in their day-to-day coverage of news beats. The players experience the same frustrationsand the same triumphs-well known to newspaper editors as they either succeed or fail in their effort to beat the opposition and to get the really big scoop. Thus, the game can be kindto the opportunist and rewarding to the strategist; but just as the best reporters are sometimes beaten to a story by a less capable reporter who happened to blunder onto it, sound strategy is sometimes defeated by simple luck. Like real reporters, the players in the present game must establish contact on the various beats. These contacts serve as gateways to the type of story every reporter seeksscoops In the present game, as in publishing real newspapers, important events are given more total space, i.e., column inches, than minor stories. Thus, the player who at the end of the game, as defined by the deadline, has accumulated the most column inches of copy is declared the winner.

It is therefore a general object of this invention to provide a competitive board game.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide a competitive game simulating the news-gathering and news-publishing functions of a newspaper.

These and other objects of the invention will become more readily apparent with reference to the following speciiication and the figures, of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the principal board;

FIG. 2a is a plan view of one side of the story card board as utilized for two players;

FIG. 2b is a plan view of the reverse side of the story card board as utilized for four players;

FIG. 3a illustrates a typical story card;

FIG. 3b illustrates a typical scoop card;

ICC

FIGS. 4a, 4b, and 4c illustrate the die, discs, and space markers utilized in playing the game; and

FIGS. 5a and 5b illustrate typical score pads for two and four players, respectively.

'Referring now to FIG. l, it will be observed that the primary board 1 is laid out on a 21 x 16 grid and includes several areas bearing appropriate legends. These predetermined areas include a Daily News office 2, a Daily Times oflice 3, a Police Beat 4, a School Beat 5, a Court Beat 6, an Industry Beat 7, a Science Beat 8, a City Hall Beat 9, and a Military Beat 10, as well as an area reserved for a timer 11. The timer 11 comprises a pad with a specific time printed on each page such that five minute increments of game time are realized as each page is turned. The use of the timer will be explained below.

The side of the story card board 12 utilized for two players is illustrated in FIG. 2a. This side of the board is divided into two rows of seven spaces 13 each; the spaces 13 are labeled serially from left to right and top to bottom from a iirst story to a fourteenth story. As illustrated in FIG. 2b, the other side of the story card board 12, utilized for four players, is also divided into two rows of seven spaces each. However, each of the spaces 14 in the upper row is designated A, and each of the spaces 15 in the lower row is designated B. The vertical columns, each comprising an A and a B space 15, are designated first story through seventh story reading serially from left to right.

A typical story card 16 is illustrated in FIG. 3a. A plurality of story cards are provided for each of the beats with the assigned values ranging, for each group of story cards, from a low value of four column inches for first and two column inches for second to twelve column inches for first and eight column inches for second.

A full deck of story cards includes six Police Beat cards,

four School Beat cards, four Court Beat cards, six Industry Beat cards, four Science Beat cards, six City Hall Beat cards, and four Military Beat cards. Like the exemplary card illustrated in FIG. 3a, each story card identiiies the beat, sets forth a brief statement of the story, provides a rating of minor, fair, or good, and gives column inch values for gathering the story rst and second.

An exemplary scoop card 17 is illustrated in FIG. 3b. Five kinds of scoop cards are provided: False Lead, No Value; Minor Scoop, Value 4 Column Inches; Good Scoop, Value 8 `Column Inches; Major Scoop, Value 12 Column Inches; and Outstanding Scoop, Value 16 Column Inches. There are 48 scoop cards in the scoop card deck allocated six each for Outstanding Scoops and False Leads and twelve each for Major Scoops, Good Scoops, and Minor Scoops.

A die 18, illustrated in FIG. 4a, is provided and is numbered 0-2-3-4-5-6. In addition, fourteen plastic contact discs 19 are provided, seven colored red and seven colored yellow, two discs being shown in FIG. 4b. Four rubber space markers 20, FIG. 4c, are utilized by the players; two space markers are colored corresponding to the discs of the first color and two are colored corresponding to the discs of the second color,

The game, designated SCOOP, is played in two basic phases; (l) the contact-making phase and (2) the newsgathering phase. As determined by the timer 11 on the game board, the contact-making phase lasts from 7:45 until 9:50 and the news-gathering phase, from 9:55 until 2:15, the actual deadline time for most real afternoon newspapers.

RULES OF PLAY FOR TWO PERSONS The story cards and the scoop cards, which are easily differentiated according to their size, are shuied thoroughly and placed face-down in separate stacks next 3 to the game board 1. A red space marker is placed in the Daily News office 2 and a yellow space marker in the Daily Times oice 3. The players may decide, by any convenient means, which paper they will represent. The player representing the Daily News places the red contact discs along his side of the game board and the player who represents the Daily Times places the yellow discs along his side of the board. The story card board 12, with the two-player side up, is placed above the game board. The timer 11 is turned back until it reads 7:45.

Contact-making phase: One player rolls the die. If O, 3, or 5 is rolled, the player representing the Daily News is given first turn in this phase; if 2, 4, or 6 is rolled, the player representing the Daily Times is given the first turn. Players roll the die alternately and advance their space marker the number of spaces on the game board grid as indicated by the die, thus attempting to enter as many news beats as possible to make contacts before the allotted time for this phase is consumed. After each player rolls the die, a page of the timer is turned; as noted above, the contact-making phase is over when the page reading 9:50 is turned.

A player makes a contact by moving into a beat and placing one or two of his contact discs in the respective circles provided for each paper. After a player has made his contact or contacts on a particular beat, he moves toward another beat on his succeeding turn and again places one or two of his contact discs in the appropriate circles, It will be observed that each news beat on the game board 1 resembles a square horseshoe; players may not move their space marker across the heavy black lines and are therefore required to enter the beats from the bottom of the horseshoe through the spaces provided. If either player places all his discs before the allotted time, the opposing player is afforded one more roll if he has one coming in the alternating process and the contact-making phase is then automatically ended. If the opposing player has not placed all his discs before the phase ends, remaining or unplaced discs may not be used and must be set aside. If neither player has placed all his discs before the time is up, all unused discs are set aside. The value of making contacts will become evident upon reading the rules for the news-gathering phase which follows:

News-gathering phase: The space markers are returned to their respective newspaper offices. As with the contact-making phase, one player rolls the die to determine who is afforded the first turn in the news-gathering phase. The first player draws the top card off the deck of story cards, turns it face-up, and places it in the space marked f First Story on the story card board 12. Both players read the card. As noted above, all story cards give the beat where a particular story is occurring, explain what the story is about, `give it a rating, and list its value in terms of column inches, both for the player who gets the story first and the player who gets the story second.

After the first card has been placed on the story card board, the player whose turn is first rolls the die and advances his space marker the number of spaces indicated. Thereafter, players alternate rolling the die with each trying to get to the beat where the story is before his opponent. After each roll of the die, one page of the timer 11 is turned (the timer is set to 9:55 at the start of the news-gathering phase). The first player to enter the beat where the story is has acquired the story first. Whenever a player enters a beat to get a story, he is allowed to draw one scoop card for each contact he has made in that particular beat. If he has made no contacts in a beat, he cannot draw a scoop card after obtaining a story in that beat.

The player who gets the story first asks, after drawing any scoop cards to which he is entitled, the opposing player whether he intends to attempt to get the same story. The opposing player may, if he desires, pass up the story in favor of his current position on the board which may be helpful in reaching the next story before his opponent. If he does elect to pass up the story, he forfeits all column inches he could have received by getting the story second and also forfeits any scoop cards he could have drawn on the beat after obtaining the story he elected to pass up.

After the opposing player has announced his intentions, the player who got the story first draws the next card off the story card deck. This card becomes the next story and is placed, face up, in the appropriate space on the story card board, and the players compete to reach the designated beat as above.

The news-gathering phase is over immediately after the page of the timer reading 2: l() is turned. Either player rolls the die to determine which player will be given the first turn in a race back to their respective newspaper ofices. Five bonus column inches are awarded to the winner of the race. No time factor is involved in the race, players simply take turns rolling the die.

The players now total their column inches for regular stories and for scoops. As noted, the player who won the race back to the offices is awarded five bonus points for his total. The player with the most column inches is winner of the game and is deemed to have printed the best paper.

Scoring: Referring to the exemplarly score pad for two players 21 shown in FIG. 5a, as regular stories are gathered, their values in column inches are recorded on the spaces provided and a check is placed into the appropriate column to indicate whether a story was gathered rst, second, or was passed up by each newspaper. The values of the scoop cards are not entered as the game progresses nor are their values revealed to the opponents. Only at the end of the game is the accumulative total of the scoop cards for each player entered in the appropriate position on the score pad.

If, during the progress of the news-gathering phase, a story card is drawn which gives a story location that is the same as the location of the player who drew the card, that card is placed on the bottom of the story card deck and another story card is drawn. Infrequently, a player will draw a story card which specifies a story in a location where the opposing player is currently situated. When this occurs, the story card is placed on the bottom of the story card deck and another card is drawn.

RULES OF PLAY FOR FOUR PERSONS In setting up the game, the same procedure is followed as under the rules of play for two persons, with certain exceptions. Both red space markers are placed in the Daily News office and both yellow space markers in the Daily Times oliice. The players are divided into two teams of two each, and each player chooses a space marker designated A or B. The side of the story card board for four players is utilized.

Contact-making phase: Any player rolls the die. If 0, 3, or 5 is rolled, the A player of the News is given first turn for this phase. If 2, 4 or 6 is rolled, the A player of the Times is given the first turn. Regardless of which A player is given the first turn, his opposing A player plays second, and the B players follow alternately. The players continue to roll the die in that order and advance their respective space markers the number of spaces indicated by the die to make an optimum number of contacts before the allotted time for the contact-making phase is consumed. A page of the time 11 is turned after each player rolls the die. The players of each paper share their seven contact discs. If either team places all its discs before the allotted time for the phase is up, the opposing team is given one or two more rolls, according to whether they have one or two more coming in the prescribed order of turns, and the contact-making phase is then automatically ended.

News-gathering phase: The space markers are returned to their respective newspaper offices when the contactmaking phase is over and the timer is set to 9:55. The procedure for determining the order of turns for this phase is repeated. It will be observed that, in this phase, the A players oppose each other and the B players oppose each other; otherwise, the procedure for this phase is much the same as that described under the rules for two players. The A player who is given the tirst turn draws a story card from the top of the story card deck and places it in the appropriate space on the side of the story card board designated for four players. He then rolls the die and advances his space marker toward the beat where the story is. Next, the opposing A player rolls the die and pursues the same story. The B player of the paper which was accorded the first turn now draws another story card and places it in the appropriate space on the story card board. He rolls the die and advances his space marker toward the beat where that story is located. The opposing B player pursues the same story as the first B player. Throughout the news-gathering phase, the As and the Bs oppose each other independently although, at times, both the As and the Bs may be pursuing different stories on the same beat at the same time. As scoops are gathered, the A and B members of each team keep their scoop cards in separate stacks until the phase is over when the timer page reading 2: 10 is turned.

A race back to the newspaper oices then ensues. Any player may roll the die with the procedure for determining the order of turns in the race identical to that described above. The team which gets both of its space markers back to the appropriate newspaper otlice rst is awarded ve bonus column inches.

Scoring: Scoring is carried out much in the manner described in the rules for two persons. The score pad 22 of FIG. 5b is utilized and the team with the highest cumulative total of column inches is the winner of the game and is considered to have published the best paper.

If a player A draws a story card which designates the same beat that his opposing player A presently occupies, the story card is placed at the bottom of the deck and another card is drawn. The same rule applies between the B players.

While the principles of the invention have now been made clear in the illustrative embodiment, there will be immediately obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, elements, materials, and components used in the practice of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination, game apparatus comprising:

(a) a game board, said game board including a plurality of discrete areas separated by a plurality of spaces delineated according to a predetermined grid pattern,

(l) two of said plurality of discrete areas designated as ofces for two different newspapers, (2) each of the remaining ones of said plurality of discrete areas designated as a unique news beat;

(b) a story card board, a rst side of said story card board divided into a plurality of spaces, each of said spaces bearing a legend specifying one of a series of stories; and

(c) a timer disposed on said game board, said timer comprising a pad composed of a plurality of sheets, each of said sheets bearing a legend designating a specic time, said plurality of sheets being ordered such that the legend on each sheet designates a time later than that designated by the legend on the preceding sheet.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,064,229 12/1936 Spiro 273-134 2,209,117 7/1940 Garrett 273-134 3,167,313 1/ 1965 Davenport et al 273-134 3,473,809 10/1969 Day 273--134 DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner 

